SUSAN JEFFREYS’ Radio Week

CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN

SATURDAY, 10AM, RADIO 2 ★★★★ Michael Buble loves a Christmas song, and he’s recorded plenty of them. He joins Claudia today to give advice to budding songwriters on how to pen a festive hit.

CERYS MATTHEWS

SUNDAY, 10AM, BBC 6 MUSIC ★★★★ The elegantly wasted, smartly clad poet John Cooper Clarke joins Cerys to talk about his musical adventures and his new book of memoirs, I Wanna Be Yours.

CHORAL EVENSONG

SUNDAY, 3PM, RADIO 3 ★★★★★ How wonderful it is to hear live choral music again. This service comes from the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge, where the College’s renowned choir sing Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending and other Advent hymns and carols.

KEN BRUCE MONDAY-FRIDAY, 9.30AM, RADIO 2

★★★★

Jools Holland joins Ken each morning this week to choose his Tracks Of My Years. He opens his selection with hits from Little Richard and The Beatles.

THE RIVER MAN TUESDAY, 8PM, RADIO 4

★★★★

The body of a man, bearing a grim warning, was found on an Irish roadside 100 years ago. Fergal Keane looks at the story behind the death of the Catholic widower and former policeman James Kane.

THE REITH LECTURES WEDNESDAY, 9AM, RADIO 4

★★★★ Stephen Hawking warned that ‘creating artificial intelligence would be the biggest event in human history; unfortunately, it might also be the last’. In the first of this year’s Reith Lectures, computer boffin Stuart Russell considers how humanity and AI can coexist successfully.

RADIO 2 IN CONCERT THURSDAY, 7PM, RADIO 2

★★★★★ It’s been a long wait, but now, Radio 2 concerts from the BBC Radio Theatre are back – and they’ve come back big. Duran Duran have a stack of songs to sing to you from their impressive back catalogue and their new album, Future Past.

ARCHERS UPDATE

One Ambridge resident is struggling to deal with some uncomfortable facts, leaving Chelsea to do what she can to contain the emotional damage. The situation, even by Horrobin standards, is complex, and Chelsea might find herself out of her depth. Harrison could come to the rescue, but he’s a man on a mission, and has to grapple with his feelings and his sense of duty. There are further problems as Lynda finally – after what seems like weeks of build-up – trots off to collect her MBE, leaving a vacuum of power at the Mystery rehearsals. Those of us hardened to Ambridge ways will not be surprised if disaster strikes in her absence.